Myles perches on his arching window frame, staring into the horizon. Far below, people drifted through the sprawling city in quiet harmony, their lives flowing together like threads woven into a single vast tapestry. Vini looked peaceful, beautiful and alive, its towering white structures gleaming beneath the pale morning light while streams of airborne vehicles glided between them like silent schools of fish beneath an ocean current. Gardens hung from balconies in impossible abundance, vines and flowering trees spilling over polished stone and glass as though nature itself had claimed equal ownership over the civilisation.
In the mornings that came, Myles watched young men and women rushing to do what he assumed was work, their movements brisk but never frantic. Soon after came children, young and younger still, smiling and chattering as they followed suit, some floating lazily on hovering platforms while others sprinted through suspended walkways with reckless excitement. Then came everyone else, filling the streets and skyways with a rhythm that reminded him painfully of home. Now he did the exact same thing he had done every other day since arriving: brooding in silence, watching them go.
He did not know what he had been expecting when they came to Sebbeh's home planet, but it certainly was not this. Peaceful bliss. The word itself felt strange here, almost artificial, like something constructed too perfectly to belong in reality. Not that it was a bad thing. If anything, the tranquillity gnawed at him more because of how genuine it appeared. It made every bruise, every sleepless night, every desperate struggle feel oddly misplaced. Then what exactly had he been working so hard for? Did he truly need to claw his way through suffering after suffering if places like this could simply exist?
Currently, he was in one of Sebbeh's father's towers, a colossal structure that stretched into the clouds like the spine of some ancient titan. The interior carried none of the cold sterility he expected from such an advanced civilisation. Warm amber lighting glowed along curved hallways, and living plants climbed through the architecture as naturally as veins beneath skin. His family had ruled over this civilisation for longer than Myles cared to know. A long time. Really, really long. Yet somehow there was no tension in the air whenever their names were spoken. Their people genuinely loved them, and that alone unsettled him more than any dictatorship ever could.
Apparently, no one really worked or studied with the aim of making money like back home. Instead, their collective goal was the betterment of their civilisation, and to that end, everyone contributed in whatever way they could. A utopia. The word refused to sit right in his chest. If such a thing truly existed in the universe, then the artists and scholars of his home would never have screamed so loudly through books, films and plays trying to warn humanity otherwise. Paradise always hid teeth somewhere.
It did not matter much except for one thing: Sebbeh gave the impression that he had grown up on a warrior's planet. Every scar on the giant man, every brutal instinct and thunderous punch painted a completely different image from the serene world outside Myles' window.
"Hey, Myles?" Kaelen barges in, leaning against the door frame with casual ease, emerald eyes glinting with faint amusement. "Dinner time."
If there was anything that stood out the most during his stay, it was definitely Sebbeh's father, Dande the 'Yevthe', whatever that meant. The man genuinely seemed kind, not in a forced or performative way, but with the heavy steadiness of someone who carried responsibility so naturally it had become part of his breathing. Poster dad through and through. Then there was his wife. Myles had to admit, the man really knew how to pick them. Her poise and usually stoic exterior felt almost regal at first glance, yet the moment she spoke to her children, that image shattered entirely. She doted shamelessly on her 'boy', hovering over Sebbeh despite the fact that he looked capable of wrestling a mountain into submission. Somehow, she also got along with everyone, even him. It creeped him out a little, actually, but in a strangely comforting way, like being hugged by something far too powerful to resist.
They had this enormous kitchen and dining area on a floor they called the family lounge. Myles had not seen the entire thing himself yet, but from what he gathered, the place resembled less a dining room and more a luxury garden built around a kitchen. Warm lights hung beneath towering trees that grew straight through the floor, and shallow streams of crystal-clear water curved around seating areas polished smooth like river stones. Apparently, the two of them cooked together regularly and even insisted on washing dishes together afterwards just to spend more time side by side. Myles almost felt sorry for the maids, though, considering the scale of the tower, there was probably still endless work left regardless.
The elevator dings softly, its sound echoing through the polished chamber as the doors slide open. The moment Myles and Kaelen step into the family lounge, warmth crashes into them like a wave.
A bright-faced Rai waves enthusiastically from across the room while Sebbeh sits nearby looking deeply uncomfortable despite clearly trying not to show it. Dande and his wife radiate the overwhelming energy of parents entirely too happy to have everyone gathered together, while two pairs of twins occupy the centre of the room with chaotic intensity. The girls were Tano and Gana, the boys Bano and Anan. Myles still could not tell which pair was older. Honestly, he was beginning to suspect they enjoyed confusing him on purpose.
The wonderful family were gathered around an elaborate board game spread across a glowing circular table, the pieces shifting and animating on their own like miniature living statues fighting a tiny war.
"Hey, come join us," Dande suddenly says upon noticing the pair.
At that moment, Myles wishes with every fibre of his being that he had stayed on the ship with Daena and Clav.
"Why so serious? Come."
One more thing. How could such ordinary words sound so terrifying coming from him?
Myles plays along as usual, dreading every second of it, though today something changes. After dinner, Dande leaves his wife with Rai and Sebbeh to wash the dishes this time, the older woman laughing softly as Sebbeh immediately begins complaining.
"Come with me," Dande says toward the curly-haired human sitting stiffly beside the twins, who are now completely absorbed in a bizarrely intense show projected into the air above them.
Startled, Myles jolts upright and follows the frighteningly massive man. Dande leads him towards the elevator, and once inside, an awkward silence settles over them like heavy fog.
Dande's serious expression makes Myles shudder. Even sealed within the elevator's metallic walls, Myles could still perceive the man's criole concentration. Dense did not begin to describe it. It looked as though countless knots had been tied around every atom in his body before being duplicated endlessly, layer upon layer of impossible pressure compressed into human form. The sheer weight of it distorted the air around him in Myles' perception. Terrifying power. It reminds him of Allyser.
Dande suddenly speaks.
"My daughter says you are human." He clears his throat slowly, voice low and steady enough to vibrate through the elevator walls. "My son's wife says you are human. That is interesting... but dangerous."
The elevator doors slide open.
Myles follows the mountain of a man into what appears to be the ground floor, though even this level resembles the entrance hall of a palace more than anything else. Pillars the size of ancient trees stretched upward into darkness while pale blue light pulsed faintly beneath the polished floors.
"May I ask where we are going?"
Dande grins, and somehow the expression feels heavier than his silence.
"Allyser may be the real deal. I am a direct descendant of the Fallen. I have been around for a while, so..."
As they approach a wall, Dande raises his hand. Instantly, the structure atomises soundlessly, the material dissolving into drifting particles of light before vanishing entirely. He gestures for Myles to follow.
The moment Myles steps through, brilliant white light blinds him, forcing his eyes shut for several painful seconds.
"So my very existence is a threat and a massive imbalance," Dande finally finishes.
As Myles' vision slowly restores, shapes emerging from the blinding haze like ghosts surfacing from water, he looks up at the stern-faced Dande standing before him.